Drapery control unit



April 15, 1952 w. L. CARTER ,593, 63

DRAPERY CONTROL UNIT Filed Feb. 2, 1951 l //'///'am L. Car/er I N VEN TOR.

BY QMQW Patented Apr. 15, 1952 UNITED STATES PATlLNT OFFICE DRAPERY CONTROL UNIT William L. Carter, Tulsa, Okla. Application February 2, 1951 Serial No, 209,173

(01. ISO-e348) 4 Claims. 1

The invention relates to' drapery control units. and has for its object to provide a device of this kind comprising a plurality of travellers mounted on a support, said travellers being connected together by links extendingforwardly from the support and terminating in downwardly extending hingeclly connected pleat forming arms adapted to form the upper end of a drape in uniform folds when the travellers are moved towards each other.

A further object is to provide the travellers with forwardly extending arms extending forwardly from the support and adapted to be attached to the upper; edge of a drapery.

A further object is to provide a drapery support having a plurality of travellers thereon for supporting the upper end of the drapery, and double link connections between the travellers for forming the pleats when the travellers are moved towards each other, and at the same time allowing successive independent movement of each traveller as the drapery is shifted, thereby relieving the strain on the drapery as the drapery is moved in either direction.

A further object is to mount the travellers in a channeled support thereby concealing the same from view and positioning the same where they will not catch on the drapery as the drapery is moved.

A further object is to provide a drapery support and pleater comprising independent travellers mounted on a support and connected together by a pair of links, which links move forwardly and form the pleats in the drapery when the travellers are moved towards each other, and move out of the pleats when the travellers are moved away from each other, and the drapery is moved to straight position.

With the above and other objects in view the invention resides in the combination and arrangement of parts as hereinafter set forth, shown in the drawing, described and claimed, it being understood that changes in the precise embodiment of the invention may be made within the scope of what is claimed without departing from the spirit of the invention.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the drapery support and pleater mounted thereon.

Figure 2 is a top plan view of the support and pleater, showing, in dotted lines, the position of the parts when the travellers are moved towards each other for forming the pleats.

Figure 3 is a front perspective view of one of the travellers.

Figure 4 is a rear perspective view of one of the travellers.

Figure 5 is a vertical transverse sectional view through the channeled support and a supporting bracket, for the support.

Referring to the drawing, the numeral l designates an elongated channel member, which mem ber may be supported in a horizontal position above a window or doorway, and forpurposes of illustration the support I is supported by brackets 2, secured to the window facing 3.

The channeled support i has its channel side inwardly disposed in relation to the window, and slidably mounted in the channeled support are a plurality of travellers 4. Each traveller comprises a body member 5, the upper and lower sides of which are bent inwardly onto the body member to form parallel flanges 6, which flanges slide in the support channels 1, clearly shown in Figure 5. The bent in portions of the body 5 terminate in upwardly and outwardly extending ears 8 at the upper side of the traveller and the rear wardly extending flange 9 at the lower side of the traveller.

Each traveller is linked to the adjacent traveller by links 9 and Ill. The links 8 terminate in downwardly extending arms I I, which. arms H are rotatably mounted in spaced eyes l2 of downwardly extending arms 13 of the links H], there forming a hingedconnection between adjacent links. The other ends of the links 9 and I0 terminate in a downwardly extending arms l4, which arms 14 extend through apertures in the ears 8 and flange 9. Arms l4 and their bearings form means for maintainingthe links 9a and ID in a horizontal plane at all times as the travellers are moved towards and away from each other, therefore it will be seen that the hinged ends of the links and their downwardly extending arms I l and I3 will form the pleats 15 of uniform size, as shown in dotted lines in Figure 2, when the travellers are moved towards each other. The supported drapery is indicated by the numeral l 6.

The upper end of each traveller is provided with a forwardly extending lug l1, extending forwardly a substantial distance in front of the support I, and terminates in a drapery support prong 18. The drapery I6 is supported on the prongs 18 of each traveller. If desired, the drapery may be provided with hooks to be received in the apertures IQ of the lugs l1.

Heretofore, in drapery supports involving the lazy tong principle, the pleats in the drapery are all formed at the same time, consequently the strain on the drapery when pulled from side to they will tear. In the present device, the pleats or folds are successively formed, thereby reducing the strain on the drapery to a minimum. Referring to Figure 2, it will be noted that the links 9a and I are in slight angular relation to each other behind the drapery l6 when the drapery is straight, therefore there is no danger of the hinged connections between the links breaking inwardly for jamming the device.

In operation, the operator grasps the drapery, for instance the right side of the drapery shown in Figure 2, and pulls to the left. This will cause the travellers to move to the left successively, breaking each link connection outwardly so that their hinged ends will form the pleats l5. as shown in dotted lines in Figure 2. For moving the drapery to extended position, a reverse pull is imparted on the drapery through cords or otherwise, and the pleats will be successively removed from the drapery, and at the same time the links will approach the general alignment of the channeled support I.

From the above it will be seen that a drapery support and gathering device is provided, simple in construction, and constructed in a manner wherebypleats will'be successively formed in the drapery or removed thereby reducing the amount of strain on the drapery when a side pull is applied, either manually or through cord connections.

The invention having been set forth what 'is claimed as new and useful is:

v 1. A drapery pleating and supporting device comprising a channeled support adapted to be supported above an opening to the rear of a drapery, said channeled support having its channel rearwardly disposed, a plurality of travellers to the rear of the channel and slidably mounted in the channel, double link connections between adjacent travellers and movable across the channeled support in a plane above the channeled support, the forward ends of said link connections terminating in downwardly extending pleat forming arms hingedly connected to each other at spaced points, thereby bracing and stiffening each other at points between the travellers, the

upper sides of said travellers having forwardly extending drapery supporting members extending across the upper side of the channeled support, said drapery supporting members being shorter than the links.

2. A device as set forth in claim 1 wherein the travellers are provided with rearwardly extending members at the upper and lower sides thereof, ends of said links extending across the channeled support, said link ends terminating in downwardly extending arms rotatably mounted in said rearwardly extending members carried by the upper and lower ends of the travellers.

3. A device as set forth in claim 1 wherein each of said travellers comprises a body member disposed in the channeled support, the upper and lower ends of said body member being bent upon the body member to form channel guide flanges, said channel guide flanges terminating respectively in upwardly and rearwardly extending and downwardly and rearwardly extending flanges, the inner ends of the links terminating in downwardly extending arms rotatably mounted in said last named flanges.

4. A device as set forth in claim 1 wherein the travellers are provided at their upper sides with spaced rearwardly extending lugs and at their lower sides with-rearwardly extending flanges, said lugs and flanges being provided with paired alined bearings, the inner ends of the links terminating in downwardly extending arms respectively rotatably mounted in the alined bearings of the lugs and the flanges, said drapery supporting means comprising a forwardly extending lug between the rearwardly extending lugs and adapted to be attached to the drapery.

WILLIAM L. CARTER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,832,031 Kirsch Nov. 17, 1931 2,388,061 Isserstedt Oct.30, 1945 

